FRUITLESS PURSUITS

John 21:3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.

For starters, the seven disciples mentioned in today’s Gospel were standing by the sea of Tiberias. Such was their proximity to the sea and a boat that when Peter said “I am going fishing”, the others did not even raise a challenge but rather jumped into the boat with Him. Their unanimous decision was “we will go with you”. Had they been in a different region of Israel, say the desert areas with no seas, would this have been their response?

Whenever we arrive at life’s crossroads, we look tend to look for familiarity to establish our bearing. We are therefore likely to redirect our focus to what we know, or what has been done before, especially if it is readily accessible. Because we already know, we don’t question it’s suitability nor further implications in that moment.

Jesus had to confirm the state of  Peter’s heart before entrusting his sheep and lambs to Him. He had to check where his loyalties lay, lest he led the sheep on fruitless fishing adventures like we read about, when they are not to be. All they had to show was an empty net.

Following these words, Peter’s charge from Jesus this time was “Follow me”(21:19b). On this occasion, not following to be made a fisher of men specifically, but to keep his eyes on Jesus as a the pattern man: ‘as he does’. That today, is the master’s invitation to us “Follow me”, lest we end up on a myriad of fruitless pursuits. Without being guided by God ourselves, we are only going to mislead ourselves and others.

#sly